2021 Ford 7.3L V8 - E350

Ummm yeah... that V8 is all it's cracked up to be. And it pulls our little 24 footer with ease. We picked it up this morning and I drove it 100 miles back to the house. The roads were up and down hills, with some decent little pulls and here is the MPG for the full 100 miles....

Oh yeah, when I got home I dumped the factory fill and twisted off the Ford filter.... Pouring in 8.5 quarts of Rotella T5, 10w30 and a Mobil 1 filter. I am going to run it 3,500 miles, dump it and pour T5 back in for the next 5k miles.


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You can run what you like but Rotella T5 does not meet your warranty requirement. Your owners manual calls for an SP rated oil. T5 is not rated as SP and has too much phosphorus to get the SP rating. A SP rated 5w30 would be perfect.

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Yeah, I wouldn’t want to risk a warranty issue from use of an incorrect motor oil. If your catalytic converter goes out they could blame it on that.

Also, aren’t the Econolines designed for body off frame major engine work? I don’t even know how that would be done with the RV “attic” over the cab?
 
Ummm yeah... that V8 is all it's cracked up to be. And it pulls our little 24 footer with ease. We picked it up this morning and I drove it 100 miles back to the house. The roads were up and down hills, with some decent little pulls and here is the MPG for the full 100 miles....




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Awesome! 13mpg hauling that load, brand new, is pretty darn good!

BigJohn, would you mind telling us approximate pricing on that model? Extremely variable depending on options, but a ballpark figure would be appreciated. My wife and I are considering a lifestyle change in about 2 years.
 
Awesome! 13mpg hauling that load, brand new, is pretty darn good!

BigJohn, would you mind telling us approximate pricing on that model? Extremely variable depending on options, but a ballpark figure would be appreciated. My wife and I are considering a lifestyle change in about 2 years.

Usually the best pricing in the nation is from RV Wholesalers in Ohio. Their quote was $67k. The kicker is.... They have no units and because of the 'chip shortage', they claim it is 8-10 months from order to delivery. I then spent 3 months searching the whole nation, looking for a Conquest 6237 and couldn't find one anywhere. Last Saturday I decided to call all the Colorado dealers again and BINGO... I found one 100 miles from our house. It's MSRP was $86,000 and it was on sale for $70,200 and we snagged it. That motorhome was never available during my searches and calls, as four different buyers always had it under contract and four times.... financing was declined.

Regarding T5 10w30... Yep I am fully aware of the beautiful amount of ZDDP and an HTHS over 3.5. Intentionally chosen with full awareness. I live in Colorado and will be pulling 10,000 foot passes on regular occasion and will be stressing the engine a lot, pulling a 14' cargo trailer loaded with motorcycles. I'm not interested in the EPA's game of anemic oil to meet their ridiculous standards. If I loose a cat in the first 150k miles... whoop-dee-doo.


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Worried about "little flakes in the oil"? Why not just change the filter and add enough oil to make it "Full" again. Then change the oil and filter after a bit, maybe at 3K miles?
 
Usually the best pricing in the nation is from RV Wholesalers in Ohio. Their quote was $67k. The kicker is.... They have no units and because of the 'chip shortage', they claim it is 8-10 months from order to delivery. I then spent 3 months searching the whole nation, looking for a Conquest 6237 and couldn't find one anywhere. Last Saturday I decided to call all the Colorado dealers again and BINGO... I found one 100 miles from our house. It's MSRP was $86,000 and it was on sale for $70,200 and we snagged it. That motorhome was never available during my searches and calls, as four different buyers always had it under contract and four times.... financing was declined.

Regarding T5 10w30... Yep I am fully aware of the beautiful amount of ZDDP and an HTHS over 3.5. Intentionally chosen with full awareness. I live in Colorado and will be pulling 10,000 foot passes on regular occasion and will be stressing the engine a lot, pulling a 14' cargo trailer loaded with motorcycles. I'm not interested in the EPA's game of anemic oil to meet their ridiculous standards. If I loose a cat in the first 150k miles... whoop-dee-doo.


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Hey appreciate the info! Glad you found one close to home...and it was only slightly more.

T5 is a good choice IMO, better one in weather over 5°F might be 15w-40 (in Schaeffer variety, of course!)
 
Worried about "little flakes in the oil"? Why not just change the filter and add enough oil to make it "Full" again. Then change the oil and filter after a bit, maybe at 3K miles?

I never know what the factory fill is, so I dump it for peace of mind on all new vehicles and bikes, usually around 500 miles. This one was driven from the factory to Colorado and had 1,500 on the dial when I bought it, so I promptly dumped it. I will run my current fill and filter to 5k miles and dump and refill again for a 5k run to 10k on the odometer. At that point I will make a decision on my OCI's.... maybe after a Blackstone test. I'm going to have a hard time following Ford's advice for 10k OCI's on this engine. ..... For me, maybe 7,500 mile OCI's???


Hey appreciate the info! Glad you found one close to home...and it was only slightly more.

T5 is a good choice IMO, better one in weather over 5°F might be 15w-40 (in Schaeffer variety, of course!)

Yeah, I have a lot of 15w40 on the shelf, in the flavor of Rotella T6 for my motorcycles, but I think I will stick with a 30wt per Fords recommendation.
 
I am now running Pen Euro-L, 5w30.


I am also installing an Airlift 5000 on it this weekend.


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I have this bag kit on my 3500 and it makes quite an improvement in the ride when loaded.

Did you get the air compressor with the remote?

This is the third AirLift installation for me and on all three, I simply adjust with the Schrader Valve. So no, I did not get the compressor and remote. Seems most that complain about AirLift... this issue is nearly always with the onboard compressor.
 
Love the v8's over the v10's. The sound is awesome and the power over the v10 is great. We run both of these in our E450 chassis ambulances at work and it is a significant improvement what Ford came back to. The 10's would get you passed by a semi going up a mountain everytime at wot. We have some v10's with about 250-270k hard miles so hopefully the longevity last in v8's as well. Our oldest v8's are about a year and a half old now with the most miles at about 80k now and have been very trouble free. Gase mileage is no where near what you all are getting, we ave around 7mpgs.
Nice rig and I hope you enjoy it.
 
How is the fuel mileage doing on this beast?

Most of our trips so far.... are from Colorado to Texas to see the wife's folks and family. Folks are aging and in health issues and we get down there as much as possible. IMO, traveling in a motorhome is the only way to go!

Anyway, the mileage thing is a bit puzzling... We actually get better fuel mileage in Colorado, even pulling the 10k passes. Average on the 55 gallon tank of gas in Colorado we get anywhere from 9.8 mpg to 11.2, but it is usually around 10.5 mpg.

Now .... running across Texas, which is flat..... I generally only get about 9.2 mpg and bucking a head wind last trip, only got 8.4 mpg.

My son purchased a Class C with the Ford chassis and the V10.... and he is only getting about 7.8 mpg as his best mileage. Running into the wind in Wyoming last year, he recorded a 5.8 mpg tank.

I would say the new Godzilla V8 is far superior in every category over the old V10.

And yes, the engine and exhaust have such a nice sound! I have a hot rod for an RV.

By the way, it is oil change time on the Godzilla this month...... and I think I will continue with the Pennzoil Euro L 5w30. Despite Ford calling for a 10k OCI, I am doing 5K at this point. I might increase to 7.5K in the future, but a Class C, running around the Rocky Mountains is considered extreme duty, especially when I start pulling the car hauler, with a TJ and Africa Twin strapped down. 10k seems too long an OCI for such use.


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